Where should we go for our family portraits?

One of the questions that we have to answer when a family calls me for portraits is - where should we go for the pictures? I loved working with this family, and I also love that we did their session at "their" park around the corner from their house.
 

When we started discussing locations, we started out talking about the park near their house, but the mountain view there has houses in front of it except where there are big power lines. (Or so I assumed from a quick check from the parking lot.)


I have lots of ideas for locations - this blog page shows a bunch of places to consider. We discussed these and I loved that she decided to have their whole family decide together.


Their daughter knew that it should be somewhere fun, not too manicured (like the Biopark), and we eventually decided that the best place would really be the park around the corner from their house.


When we walked a ways farther down the path, with a little strategic positioning, the mountain view was perfect. A lesson for me - take a longer walk before I dismiss a good potential location! We had some fun with the frisbee...


which led to cartwheels...


which led to my first whole-family cartwheel portrait! How fun is this?




After some family portraits, it was time for their daughter to play. She had lots of ideas.




I love doing sessions in the park where you actually play! It just makes it better.


We all love her expression in this picture.


We did a few other combinations, which I love,




and even though it was cloudy and we didn't get the purple mountains, the evening light was beautiful.




The whole evening was such a pleasure. I learned that your favorite places might be best for pictures, even if you're not sure the background will be perfect (which actually this turned out to be anyway), but if you have happy memories somewhere, it will make your session more meaningful and FUN.


What did they end up choosing? A wall gallery of canvas wraps, which I love -


and a large collage to frame, among other things.


If this style of photography appeals to you, I'd love to chat with you about a family session for YOUR family. I am a zero pressure kind of person - just give me a call or email, and we can talk!

Or, see this page for other ideas about how to make your portrait session the best that it can be.

Four months old with some delicious toes (or so I gather)

What could be better on a warm summer morning than meeting this darling little girl for some 4 month portraits? 


She was happy like this the whole time. Sometimes babies 3-4 months old can be a little tricky, because they CAN smile, but they don't always want to do it for the camera.


That was not a problem this time!


One of my favorite little-baby stages to capture is when they love their toes! She could even smile around the toes in her mouth.




I have a bunch more baby pictures, along with some info on my baby plan options, on this blog page - check it out!

I offer four different options for baby photography collections. If you are interested for yourself, or if you have a friend or family member you might like to gift a collection to, I have an online magazine with more information that you might like to see. You can send me your email address below and I will email you a link right away.

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Beautiful wedding photography. And funny wedding photography. Both together make an amazing day!

More photography from this wedding. The ceremony was beautiful, family portraits were easy and calm inside the church, and then.... we went outside to do bridal party pictures in a huge windstorm! This happens, we know Albuquerque is windy. But it was obvious that the location we'd originally planned was not going to work. We went straight to the reception venue, Casas de Suenas, and their courtyards were beautiful, a bit sheltered, and mercifully much less blustery than outside the church.



One thing I loved is that not only was the wedding party photogenic,


but they were a lot of fun. Not too serious. As seen below in the picture with a garden gnome.




The grounds were gorgeous - lots of great places for bride and groom portraits. I loved these.


















Their "save the date" picture featured these hobo signs - thought it would be fun to bring them back on their wedding day!






I love pictures with siblings. These get me. :)








The groom was not to be outdone. He and his brother had some great photo ideas.


This is a recreation of a childhood picture, probably not in such formal dress.


And some more fun with the rest of the wedding party:










A little role reversal.
















I walked around the corner after taking bride and groom pictures, and saw this scene. What a perfect depiction of downtime after a 2014 wedding, right?


And then it was on to the reception venue. I loved the bride's style - blue and yellow is a gorgeous combination.






I loved this idea - they printed engagement pictures on a folding screen and their friends and guests could sign the screen with bright markers.


Love this idea too - advice in a bottle, for them to open after a few years.


Some more reception fun! Toasts,






cake cutting,




and dancing.







And lots more dancing. I ended up with a million dance pictures at the end, so much fun.


I loved La Marcha (though it was hard to photograph because it filled the room)


and the rest of the dancing was a great combination of ages and generations.










If you are getting married in the Albuquerque area, I'd love to talk with you about wedding photography! I photograph a very limited number of weddings in a year, so that I can ensure that the pictures are of the highest quality for each couple. I would love to meet with you in person and discuss your plans! You can give me a call or email.